We put together a few of our favourite posts on helping scientists manage their work life balance with their families.
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1. Work–life balance: Lab life with kids
Time management and organisation is essential to keep your lab life ticking over and your home life running smoothly. But it can be done. As Jens Schuster, a molecular biologist at Uppsala University, Sweden, says, “cells don’t care if you come in at midnight or noon to take care of them.”
2. Women in science: A returner’s perspective
Sara Burton took a three-year break from the lab after her PhD thesis to look after her two sons full time. Here, she discusses the challenges she faced in breaking back into the lab, and what help and advice she’d give to others looking to do the same.
3. Career gaps: Maternity muddle
Maria Granberg found her academic momentum took a big hit when she became pregnant with her second child. She thinks a lot could be done to help researchers sustain their momentum when they find themselves in a similar situation.
4. Careers in academia: How to manage work-life balance with families
In this video, Frances Aschroft, physiology professor at the University of Oxford, James Hadfield, manager of the genomics core facility at Cancer Research UK, Cambridge Institute, and Lisa Fox, senior trials manager at the Institute of Cancer Research (who has recently returned to work after having children), tackle the question of how to manage work-life balance whilst having families at the Naturejobs career expo, London.
5. Lab life: Lone-parent scientist
Patricia Castillo has had to work as a full-time researcher and parent to her children since she separated from their father in 2010. It’s hard, but others interviewed in this piece explain how delegating (and spending money, if you have it) helps enormously.
6. How to control your career as a female physicist
Emma Chapman is a research fellow in Imperial College London, and shares her experiences of having two children in that crucial period with Naturejobs.
7. Work–life balance: Kid-friendly digs
Bringing the family along for the ride can be a great way to combat childcare costs and logistic difficulties for field researchers. We dive in at the deep end and cover some of the advantages and problems that comes with having familial company.